If (as Anu says in AWADnews) philogyny is the love of women, and if misogyny is the hated of women, and misandry is the hatred of men....then what, pray tell, is the love of men? (a loaded question on this 'ere site 'ere, I realise!)
is it "philandry"?
philanthropy being applicable more to our species in general....
Dear MG: sounds logical, but there is the problem that the word "philander" has been used to refer to Casanova types
phi[lan[der 7fi lan4d!r, f!38
n.
5< Gr philandros, fond of men < philos, loving + ancr, a man (see ANDRO3): used in fiction as a name for a lover6 [Rare] a man who philanders
vi.
to engage lightly in passing love affairs; make love insincerely: said of a man
phi[lan4der[er
n.
A philander ought to be, by its formation, a lover of men, and this is what it meant in Ancient Greek; but it was later (I don't know when) misused as if it meant a loving man.
it was later misused as if it meant a loving man.
Dr. Bill's dictionary reference mentioned a lover from Literature as does the dictionary.com entry. Anyone have more specifics?
I've always heard and used this word with the extra -er, philanderer to denote a "ladies' man," or a romantic cheater.
was in the nineteenth century an acceptable man's name. Never popular, but certainly acceptable.
I'm afraid philander may have been corrupted beyond redemption; to wit:
[ad. Gr. adj., loving or fond of men, (of a woman) loving her
husband, f. -, PHILO- + , - man, male, husband; hence used as a
proper name in story, drama, dialogue; in later use esp. for a lover (perh.
misunderstood as = a loving man).
Thus in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, Filandro was the youth beloved and ruined by the
lustful Gabrina; and in Beaumont and Fletcher's Laws of Candy, one of the personages is Philander Prince of Cyprus, passionately in love with Erota; but the name seems to have been more particularly matched with Phillis, as in quot. 1682. Cf. PHILLIS.]
1. a. A lover; one given to making love. Obs.
[a1682 (title of Ballad) The faithful Lovers Downfal: or, The Death of Fair Phillis Who
Killed her self for loss of her Philander. Ibid., Philander, ah Philander! still the bleeding Phillis cries, She wept awhile, And she forc't a Smile, then clos'd her eyes and dyes.] 1700 CONGREVE Way of World V. i, I'll couple you! yes, I'll baste you together, you and your Philander. [1709 TATLER No. 13 1 Enter'd Philander, who is the most skilful of all Men in an Address to Women.] 1794 C. PIGOTT Female Jockey Club 99 Those philanders of former times once led Captivity Captive, too happy to be bound in her fetters. 1813 MOORE Post-bag viii, Bring thy best lace, thou gay Philander!
b. A love-making or philandering.
1898 G. B. SHAW Philanderer I. 78 It was nothing but a philander with Julia -- nothing else in the world, I assure you.
2. A name given to certain marsupial animals (also FILANDER).
[From the name of Philander de Bruyn, who saw in 1711 in the garden of the Dutch governor of Batavia the species named after him (in a), being the first member of the family known to Europeans. (Morris Austral Eng.)]
a. A small wallaby (Macropus brunnii) first described by Philander de Bruyn. b. A South American opossum (Didelphys philander). c. An Australian bandicoot (Perameles lagotis).
1737 [see FILANDER3]. 1753 CHAMBERS Cycl. Supp., Didelphis, the name by which Linnĉus calls the animal called philander by other writers. 1896 List Anim. Zool. Soc. (ed. 9) 215 Didelphys philander,..Philander Opossum.
so the Greek sense of a lover of men seems to have never made it into English at all, and "a lover" is considered to be an obsolete sense -- all we're left with is philandering marsupials!
http://home.mn.rr.com/wwftd/
Okay, so, like [twirling hair & snapping gum-e], WHAT are we to call women who love men?
(apart from insane
)
Depends on quantity. I admire those women who can be faithful to one. And I do not admire promiscuous men.
Not after marriage, anyway.
WHAT are we to call women who love men?
Popular
WHAT are we to call women who love men?
Well, we're used to seeing phil(o)- and mis(o)- as prefixes in a few words, and this was the Greek way of doing it, but it's an unusual way of forming compounds. Normally we'd expect the arrangement androphile, which I commend as the suitable word.
The slight problem is that -philia has been effectively appropriated as meaning not just love but unhealthy love, which would make androphilia the... er... well that's straying off the linguistic path.
My solution then would be to use the doublet -phily. So androphily and gynophily (or more strictly gynaecophily) would be harmless and laudable.
and a young practitioner of androphily might be called an andro-filly?
Until she grows up and gets some horse-sense.
"Thank heaven for little girls........"
"Thank heaven for little girls........"how little, Bill? This isn't Usenet, you know!
"Without them, what would little boys do?........" (Maurice Chevalier)(Movie "Gigi" l958)
Thank you, Nicholas - that was kinda what I was searching for.....
So: an androphile would be a lover of men, yes?
Well, does philogyny recapitulate misogyny? This is obviously a fairly fundamental question and requires answering. So answer it!
